An article from last week’s Vancouver Sun describes a deeply unsettling new policy at BC’s provincial archive:

British Columbia researchers who want to work with “sensitive” archival records — including writers, journalists and university professors — must now agree to random security checks of personal computers, offices and even their homes by the government. […]

What defines a sensitive document? It contains an individual’s name, address or telephone number; race, national or ethnic origin, colour or religious or political beliefs or associations; age, sex, sexual orientation, marital or family status; an identifying number, symbol or other particular assigned; fingerprints, blood type or inheritable characteristics; health care history including a physical or mental disability; educational, financial, criminal or employment history; anyone else’s opinions about the individual; the individual’s opinions, except if they are about someone else.

According to one researcher who has already been subjected to a security check, the penalty for noncompliance could be severe: “An individual who refused to provide the auditors with access to their home/office, or is in violation of the agreement, will have their research privileges at the B.C. archives revoked.”

Protecting personal information is a worthy goal, and it’s entirely reasonable to ask researchers to take basic security precautions when handling that sort of information. But random security checks are an extremely disturbing violation of researchers’ fundamental privacy rights. The Royal BC Museum, which houses the provincial archive, needs to rethink this policy and develop a more proportional approach to its protection-of-privacy responsibilities.

(Hat tip: Social Justice Librarian and Brian Campbell.)